A Week In Review

Hello All. Welcome to another riveting edition of a Week In Review. Here's what's been up with me this week.

Where did everybody go?
You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I had house guests. My roommate's sister and her three kids stayed with us for about 10 days. They went back to Connecticut last Sunday, and my roommate went with them. I am on my own until August 13. I really love alone time. I love my roommate, too, but there's something therapeutic, almost euphoric, about having the place to myself - maybe it's because I'm really an introvert at heart. I'm sure that after 3 weeks I'll be ready to have some company again. We'll see if I'm still able to carry on a sensible conversation after 21 days of silence. But for now, I'm liking this.

PS - No, I do not walk around naked. Why is that always the first question asked when a person says that they're home alone? I don't know.

Batman
Haven't seen it yet, but have heard a lot about it. According to absolutely everybody, it's the best movie ever made. I think I'll take Zac and Josh tomorrow, and then I'll let you know if it really is the best movie ever.

John Adams
I rented the HBO miniseries on John Adams, based on the book by David McCullough, which won a Pulitzer prize a few years ago. My good friend Nicole and I read the book together and really enjoyed it. I'm enjoying the miniseries even more. I don't expect that everyone who read the book will like the show better, book vs movie is always a delicate topic, but I am loving this. Last night I watched the episode featuring the writing of the Declaration of Independence and all that lead up to it. The filmmakers did a great job of carrying the emotion, and the sobering reality, of the time. Our Founding Fathers had no reason to believe that they could take on Great Britain and win. They had every reason to think that they'd be hanged as traitors as soon as the war was lost. It's just astonishing that they went ahead and signed that document and started a war anyway.

The show does a great job, too, of depicting Abigail Adams. Her strength kept him going. She stayed behind, raised children, fought back disease, worked a farm, and faced a war being fought in her back yard all on her own while he was away as a member of congress and as a diplomat in Europe. It's overwhelming to think of what her life must have been like. I'm sure that there were countless women like her who believed in the Revolution deeply enough to stay home alone. There are women today who are home while their husband are fighting overseas, and my heart goes out to them.

Some genealogy
Over the last couple of years, I have had more interest in genealogy. My parents are converts, so we don't have the great-grandmother who did all of our generations back to Adam some 45 years ago. I do, though, have a sister-in-law, Andrea, who rocks the family history. She's found some great stuff, and her enthusiasm has made me want to do some looking myself. Last year I was online looking for information on my maternal grandmother's family, and literally stumbled onto a link that listed out our generations back to Virginia in the 1600s! I couldn't believe it. A man named Billy Brim, who must be a distant relative, had researched that family line, found all of those names, and posted them on rootsweb.com. What a find. These people are some of the first colonists in America. I think that's fascinating!

I was looking at it again yesterday, and found that Andrea had posted some information of her own, adding a couple more generations to the list. Those that she added were born in England in the early 1600s, and one name in particular caught my eye - Jane Ann Howard. Those of you who know your history of Great Britain will know that the Howards were a powerful family during King Henry VIII's time. In fact, Anne Boleyn's mother was a Howard. So interesting! I honestly have no idea if Jane Ann is part of the same Howard family, but wow, what if she was? I won't have you all start referring to me as Lady Angela, Duchess of ... quite yet. I need to verify a few things first.

Days of '47
I did nothing to celebrate the holiday. In fact, I worked at the office yesterday. Being a Minnesota girl, I've never really caught the spirit of it all. I do, though, feel real gratitude and respect for those early saints and pioneers who built up the Church. It's wonderful to think about the people who lived before us, and of how their work and sacrifices now bless our lives. Everything we have, the Church, our nation, is built on the sweat and tears of countless people who simply followed what they believed in and did their duty to God. I am very grateful. Very grateful.

That's it for now. Thanks again for sticking with me.
You are loved.